1. FIELD
The subject invention is in the field of devices and apparatus which enable and facilitate the use of ropes, lines, cables and the like for a wide variety of purposes including rescue operations. It is in the specific field of devices useful in removing people from the user accommodations on stalled ski lifts, such accommodations including seats and cabs and gondolas.
2. PRIOR ART
The seats and other accommodations on stalled ski lifts are often high enough from the ground to make it unsafe for people using the lift to reach the ground without help and there are often situations in which it is urgent for the people to be evacuated from the accommodations as quickly as possible. A well known technique for such evacuation involves positioning a line over the lift cable with both ends of the line accessible from the ground. The line is then moved near an accommodation, and one end of the line is pulled to raise a seat attached to the other end of the line up to the accommodation. A person then transfers from the accommodation to the seat and is lowered to the ground. The line tends to wear from contacts with the cables as it is moved from accommodation to accommodation. It is a well known practice to relieve this wear by running the line through a bent tube which is cradled on the cable during use. The use of the described rescue technique has been significantly complicated by the variety of sizes and design details of the apparatus used for attaching the accommodations to the cables. In many instances it is impossible to move the line past the one attachment apparatus to get to another, so that the line must be removed from the cable and reset for each accommodation. The time required for this is considered unacceptable in many instances. Accordingly, the prime objective of the subject invention is to provide a device which can be used to move the rescue line past the relatively large and complicated apparatuses used to attach ski lift accommodations to ski lift cables. Other objectives are that the device be reliable, easy to use and economical.